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Friday, August 28, 2015

In Merdeka message, Anwar urges Malaysians to ‘save Malaysia’

Former opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim says Malaysians must do their part to save the country from the current ‘crisis of governability’. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, August 28, 2015.

Jailed former opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has made an impassioned plea to all Malaysians to take the country’s current state of affairs into their own hands to “save Malaysia from the systemic crisis of governability”.

In his Merdeka Day message, released by his lawyers and uploaded on his blog, Anwar urged Malaysians to support tomorrow’s Bersih rally to stem the country’s decline in the “voyage for democracy and rule of law”.

“There is a tide in our affairs which, unless we seize it, will see our voyage for democracy and rule of law in shallows and in misery. This is the rising tide of corruption and electoral fraud; financial malfeasance; arrogance of power and transgression; and judicial impropriety!

“It is therefore morally incumbent that Malaysians join hands in this effort and save Malaysia from the systemic crisis of governability.”

Anwar’s lawyers told The Malaysian Insider that the message was dictated to lawyers during a prison visit, adding that prison officials had restricted lawyers even from taking notes.

However, they said Anwar, who has been incarcerated since February for a five-year term for sodomy, remained adamant in conveying his Merdeka message to Malaysians in spite of the restrictions.

Anwar’s family says they have also been severely restricted in their attempts to access the former opposition leader, and have been allowed to visit him only once every three weeks in highly-guarded and supervised sessions where conversations are held through an intercom.

“It’s been increasingly difficult for the family since (Datuk Seri Ahmad) Zahid Hamidi was made deputy prime minister,” said Anwar’s daughter and Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah in a text message to The Malaysian Insider.

She said that even though Anwar had been denied medical rights and was “suffering constant pain”, her family remained “resolved in spirit to fight for a better, cleaner and fairer Malaysia”.

“One can appreciate that despite his personal tribulations, his mind is very much on Bersih and the need to ensure this Merdeka is celebrated with a true sense of patriotism,” said Nurul Izzah.

“Our country needs saving – and this remains his top priority.

“As such, we are deeply troubled but never cowed.”

The Bersih 4 rally is set to take place this weekend in Kuala Lumpur, Kuching and Kota Kinabalu as well as in major cities around the world.

The 34-hour rally is scheduled to end on midnight Sunday. Malaysia celebrates its 58th year of independence on Monday.

Organisers say the rally is a call for institutional reforms, the freedom to protest and a clean government and political system, adding that the turnout for the rally would be akin to a vote of no confidence against Prime Miniser Datuk Seri Najib Razak.